


Pass the Salt

by Brumeier



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Coming Out, Community: mcsheplets, Established Relationship, Family Fluff, M/M, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-17
Updated: 2017-04-17
Packaged: 2018-10-19 21:49:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10648731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brumeier/pseuds/Brumeier
Summary: Rodney had the perfect plan for coming out to Jeannie. Too bad Jeannie didn't know that.





	Pass the Salt

**Author's Note:**

> Written for McSheplet's prompt #252: Dinner

“Could you pass the salt?” Rodney asked.

John grabbed the shaker and reached across the table. Rodney took it from him, their fingers tangling for the briefest moment; he ducked his head to hide his grin.

“I wanted to thank you properly for renting my brother a room,” Jeannie said. She kept shifting in her chair, and Rodney thought it was impressive that she could sit so close to the table because her belly was astonishingly enormous. “I love my brother but things around here are going to be crazy enough once the baby comes.”

Rodney had been staying in the spare room, which was now a nursery. Jeannie and her boring husband had been nice enough to let him stay rent free, but he had no desire to live on the couch or get roped into changing diapers.

John shrugged. “I needed a roommate to help with expenses, so it was just good timing. Rodney, could you pass the butter?”

Rodney passed the little plate over, rubbing his pinky against John’s as he did so.

“Besides, he spends so much time in the Physics Lab I hardly see him.”

Jeannie frowned and Rodney kicked at John under the table, though it quickly turned into playing footsie.

“I hope you’re helping out, Mer.” Jeannie shook her fork at him. “My brother has a one-track mind when he’s working on a project. You have to really keep after him.”

John smirked at Rodney and he had to duck his head again so Jeannie wouldn’t see him blushing. John had no problem ‘keeping after him’. With regularity.

“It’s not a project, it’s a doctoral dissertation. And my entire future rests on it, so yes, I’m going to be focused on it.”

“He’s a good roommate,” John said. “He really keeps up his end of things.”

That duplicitous statement was accompanied by waggled eyebrows and Rodney had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from bursting out laughing. Why had he thought bringing John to meet his sister was a good idea?

“You won’t have any trouble with the dissertation. You’re a smart guy.” Kaleb had been so quiet Rodney forgot he was even there.

“The word you’re looking for is genius, and I’m not worried about the dissertation. John, could you pass the rolls?”

Rodney could’ve reached them himself but he wanted another excuse to touch John. Ever since they’d gone from roommates to boyfriends Rodney hadn’t been able to _stop_ touching. It had been random chance, him answering the ad for a roommate and finding the sexiest math nerd on campus on the other side of door. It had been spectacular, odds-defying luck that the math nerd was not only gay but also interested in Rodney.

John rubbed his foot up and down Rodney’s calf and handed him the rolls with a heated look that made Rodney’s pants feel a bit tight. He started plotting all the things he was going to do to John once they got back home.

By the time they’d finished dinner, Rodney’s skin felt flushed all over and he wanted to leave as soon as possible. So of course John volunteered them for dishwashing duty. Rodney grumbled about it until John came up behind him at the sink, pressing himself against Rodney’s ass.

“Can’t wait to get you naked,” John murmured.

Rodney had notoriously poor self-control, but he’d been trying. He’d had a good, solid plan: start bringing John around to Jeannie’s, get her used to him, get her to like him, and then break the news that Rodney and John were dating. It was a good plan. 

Fuck the plan.

Rodney turned, hands wet and soapy, and wrapped his arms around John, kissing him with all the pent-up sexual frustration that had plagued him all through dinner. He palmed John’s ass with one hand, no doubt leaving a nice big wet patch, but the way John groaned into the kiss seemed to indicate he didn’t mind.

“You’re dripping water all over the floor,” Jeannie said from the doorway.

Rodney and John sprang apart, and Rodney looked around frantically for a dish towel. “Um…we were…uh…”

“Make sure you put the leftovers away.” Jeannie smirked and waddled away, one hand on the small of her back.

John shared a wide-eyed look with him. “Well…I guess she knows now.”

Rodney scowled and chased after his sister. “Hey! Come back here! You could be a little more shocked that I’m kissing a boy!” 

“Boy?” John protested, following along right behind.

Jeannie turned around, clearly amused. “I’m just glad you waited till dinner was over. Honestly, do you two even know what the word subtle means?”

That took some of the wind out of Rodney’s sails. “Wait. You’re not shocked?”

“It’s not like I’ve never seen two men kissing, Mer.” Jeannie eased herself down on the couch.

“Yeah, but…you never saw _me_ kissing them. You know what that makes me?”

Jeannie rubbed a hand over her belly. “Bisexual. I’m familiar with the terminology.”

Rodney looked over his shoulder at John, who was leaning against the bookcase. The only help he got was a raised eyebrow that literally could’ve meant anything.

“But…”

“Did you _want_ to shock me?” Jeannie asked, narrowing her eyes.

“No! I just thought…well, not everyone takes it as a matter of course when their brother tells them something like that.”

“Mer. I just want you to be happy, whether it’s with a man, a woman, or a turnip.”

“You said you’d stop calling Becky that.”

“Okay,” Jeannie conceded. “Maybe not the turnip. She was ridiculous.”

Rodney was relieved, even though things hadn’t gone according to his plan. He hadn’t thought his sister would be mad, necessarily, or inclined to throw him out of the house and never speak to him again just because he wasn’t straight. But he knew well enough that sometimes a person could have an unpleasant reaction to something they didn’t understand.

“Thanks, Beanie,” he said, using the nickname he’d had for Jeannie when they were kids.

Jeannie tugged on his arm until he was close enough to kiss on the cheek. “Now finish washing my dishes so you two can go home and get up to whatever depraved activities you have planned.”

“We’re not depraved!” Rodney sputtered.

“Speak for yourself,” John replied with a grin.

Rodney dragged him back to the kitchen.

“And I expect to see you at Sunday dinner!” Jeannie called after them.

Rodney vowed that he and John would get the sex out of their system _before_ dinner next time.


End file.
